LA Car Reports

LA CAR REPORT—When you say “screen-printing” the first thing that comes to mind is some dude in a backroom feverishly scraping a screen and has ink smeared everywhere, sweating with a look of panic. Well, part of that is true, except for that one guy. In today’s world the days of one or two guys making screens and printing T-shirts are almost gone. If you want to stay competitive, you have to operate like a NASCAR or NHRA pit crew—it’s team effort here folks. Tom Gomez reports. And then we pick our favorite automotive T-shirts!

LA CAR REPORT—Trucks. And more trucks. Big ones. That’s what the American brands (Ford and Chevy) are showing at the LA Auto Show this year. Chrysler, too, along with a whole bunch of versions of the Charger and Challenger. Let’s not mistake this: anything that earns the name “Hellcat” is pretty cool. So is the Dodge Demon, with 808 HP on pump gas, and 32 more on high octane. But most of what Fiat Chrysler is showing, aside from the Fiats, is pretty much what they’ve been selling for a decade. Is that a portent of a boring Auto Show? Read on. Brian Kennedy reports.

LA CAR REPORT—”For seventeen years now I’ve been making the Turkey Night event program. I make all decisions on the design and layout, the placement of all images and text, and then oversee printing and sales. That’s the nuts and bolts part of my job at Turkey Night.” Harold Osmer and his daughter Mirinda talk about their way of celebrating their family’s Thanksgiving each year, at an automobile race, but not just any race…

LA CAR REPORT—It’s Thanksgiving Night … We’re Sitting In the Bleachers at Ventura Raceway, It’s Cold, We’re Eating Track Dogs, and Fries, Sipping Cold Beer and Choking Down Lukewarm Coffee … Why? What’s the big attraction of an annual auto racing event that causes people to leave the company and comfort of their homes on Thanksgiving evening? Tim Kennedy explains why every year thousands of people leave festive holiday gatherings of family and friends to attend an outdoor midget auto race somewhere in southern California no matter where that race is being held or what the temperature is at the race site.

LA CAR REPORT—Lindley and Ann Bothwell’s extraordinary collection of classic trains, cars, and motoring memorabilia was auctioned off on at the working orange grove in the San Fernando Valley in early November. Harold Osmer was there to catch some of the vibe of these amazing cars and other items that went on the block. This sort of event is where value has a closed door meeting with with one’s heart—there were some wonderful cars and other items up for action. Let’s see if Harold scratched himself and laid down a half-million dollar bid a Miller, or waved across the room at a friend and bought himself an actual life-sized railroad train.